At the beginning of 2014, we arrived at the airport of Buenos Aires, Argentina, carrying only our backpacks and looking to travel around South America for a year. We had dreams of going all the way from Patagonia - the southernmost part of the world - to North America. Back home we had talked about buying a car. Travelling is very much about freedom: being able to go where you want, when you want, never worrying about houses, jobs, or schools that tell you where and when to be. What better way to experience this freedom than in a car, giving you the option of just going. Once arrived in Argentina, the idea grew on us. Transportation and hotels are expensive in Argentina compared to other South American countries. Also, lots of people say you need your own vehicle for properly experiencing the vast wilderness of Patagonia. If we could get a cheap car that we could also sleep in, thus saving money on hotels, it might be doable for us even though we did not have a lot of money.
A couple of Australians had written on an overlander forum looking for someone to take over their Nissan Patrol 60-series. After driving the Patrol all the way from Colombia, it broke down a few hours drive from Tucumán in the north of the country after they had driven it with too much load (former forum user 'Jimmyrobby' - their story is here: http://www.60patrol.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2464). From there it was towed to a mechanic, who gave the diagnosis. The bill would be too much for the Australians, so they asked if someone would like take over the car and repairs alike. We were very interested.
The repair should finish soon so we could inspect the Patrol together. The Australians were in a great rush to get home having run out of time and money. They needed someone to take over the formal obligations of importing a vehicle (or they could not leave the country) as well as the bill at the mechanic, about $1500.
We fell for the Patrol immediately. The low price meant we could afford it. So we did the paperwork for the sale in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, changing ownership of a Colombian car can only be done in Colombia, so they had arranged with a notary to have a power of attorney made instead. Appearantly, many travelers do ownership transfers that way, so we figured we would not run into legal problems. A couple of weeks later we arrived in Tucumán in northern Argentina and saw the beauty.
The necessary repairs were remachining the crankshaft and new bearing shells. The clutch had to be relined and have a few springs replaced. The deal was also that the mechanic would give it a thorough service to have everything in order for travelling. Other than that, the Australians assured us, the Patrol was fine and ready to get on the road.
Two weeks later the mechanic would finish, so we said goodbye to the Australians and travelled around the north of the country for a few weeks while waiting. We could not wait to get going.
When we returned to the mechanic two weeks later, the engine was still on the floor of the shop and nothing had happened. It turned out this mechanic was not the best one you could have hoped for. It took him another four weeks to finish the work. During that time we kept coming back a couple of times every week, each time being told it would be finished on this and that date,, only to return and find not much had happened. It was exhausting.
It seemed like the mechanic was not capable of handling this type of car. When they took the engine out, they had not detached the transmission properly and broke the clutch bearing retainer.
They therefore decided to reassemble this extremely heavy engine and the transmission on the floor and put everything back in one go. They were quite exhausted when we saw them that night
When he did work, he did as little as possible. The deal was to have the Patrol in top condition ready for traveling, every minor and major thing checked and fixed. However, when he finally finished by the end of March, a number of things were in bad condition. Many of the following issues were only discovered later on. He had changed the engine oil, but left the transmission low on oil and not touched the rear differential at all (it was virtually empty!). Some of the sparkplugs needed changing, as did the ignition cables. The drive belt was dangerously close to breaking. The water pump leaked because the gasket was worn out, and the water pipe was close to cracking. There was a hole in the fuel tank, and the muffler and exhaust pipe had big holes in them. The alternator regulator was broken causing voltage problems that meant the battery was also fried. Because of the long period the Patrol had been parked, the three extra batteries we had were also dead.
However, the biggest problem was discovered right away: When he declared the Patrol was finished, we took it for a spin, and even with our very limited knowledge of cars, we could tell something was very wrong. We returned and had him drive it a bit. He then declared there was serious problems with the transmission and that we could not use 4x4. He advised us to drive it 700 kilometers to Córdoba, Argentina’s second city, and seek out a "transmission specialist" there. It would not be possible to find one in Tucumán.
He also said there was a minor issue with the clutch. It was difficult to understand exactly what he said, but something did not fit as it was supposed to at the center of the clutch. So when the pedal was pressed, there would be a noise because of the movement. He assured us it would not cause any problems.
While trying to figure out how bad the problem with the transmission was, we did get to drive the Patrol out to the farm outside the city were we had worked. So we did get a taste of what it would be like to travel in a Patrol.
What were we to do? Our knowledge of cars and engines was close to none. Our Spanish was not very good either, and this mechanic from Tucumán spoke with a heavy dialect and did not bother to try to make himself understandable. Was it even possible to drive it to another city in that condition? And if we could, would we be able to get the replacement parts anyway?
We decided to give it our best shot. It would be too sad to give up on our Patrol. We had been looking forward to get going for almost two months. During that time we had spent lots of time and money getting stuff for our trip. That would all be wasted if we could not go. We were determined to get it on the road. But we were going to need help, so we started looking around.
To be continued…
Thank you for sharing this wonderful excursion.
